It’s tempting to say the world’s not big enough for local ceramicist Stan Baker — but his exhibit at the Clay Gallery shows us that it's really just the right size. A masterly talent, Baker’s work has been long marked by a subtle decorative glaze he attributes to his training. “In 1979,” says Baker in his artist statement, “I started my apprenticeship with world-renowned potter JT Abernathy (of Ann Arbor).

“I worked extensively with JT for 7 years and left his studio only after he had told me that I had learned enough from him and that I needed to go out into the world to create my own studio.”

Which, being a good student Baker, did — naming his locally-based Highers Pottery Studio after his grandfather, Stanford Highers.

“I joined the Clay Gallery in the fall of 2001,” continues Baker. “(And) this is a particularly good feeling for me, for now I am selling my pottery alongside my mentor for the first time.

“I was greatly influenced by him,” Baker concludes, “as my pottery has the same distinctive oriental brushwork and the beautiful rounded shapes that JT had taught me so many years ago.”

Yes, but that was then — this is now. And Baker, still following Abernathy’s advice, has subsequently had a world to conquer. His exhibit “One World in Raku” shows us the extent of this inspiration as an artist.

There’s a display case at the rear of the Clay Gallery featuring examples of Baker’s understated raku — a style of ceramics in which the work is removed from its kiln and wrapped in combustible material, producing a polished residue. It has become so pervasive in our community, it’s a style that likely looks familiar at first. For a number of years Baker’s ceramics have featured a deft line that suggests bamboo stems or leaves against its glazed surface. These more recent artworks, by contrast — Hamada vases, raku mugs, textured white vases, crackle bowls and tea sets — feature an increasingly abstract, understated elegance. A courteous reverence for Abernathy marks each of these functional ceramics.

This new line of art is stunning. Baker has now chosen a bravura theme that amplifies upon his talent as an artist. In this theme — no less than 56 ceramic globes and maps in a remarkable range of shapes and sizes — he's finding himself in his world.

Baker’s world is certainly a grand sight to behold: an extraordinarily concentrated series of iridescent ceramics, both functional and shimmering ornamental raku surfaces. Baker’s globes and maps have an ornamental topographical relief whose dramatic fidelity illustrates a nuanced crafting.

More so, the exhibit’s masterwork — the heroically oversize “One World” globe set on a revolving stand — sums up Baker’s current approach to his ceramics.

As Baker exhibition statement says, “The influence of the signature piece is a culmination of my interests in design, engineering, and creating large raku pieces. Each hemisphere of the globe was hand carved out of clay and cut into several pieces before being individually fired in the raku kiln and then reassembled. The whole globe is mounted on wood, hanging on a steel frame with bearings to allow it to spin freely. The base is a 100-pound, 5-sided pyramid made from welded steel plates.”

Left unsaid and typical of Baker’s modesty, “One World” is also a highly spirited work of art. The freestanding globe features a hand-worked detail that’s both representatively correct yet also artfully abstracted.

Its magnificent size is, as Baker says, both a summation and continuation of his raku as well as a summation and continuation of his philosophy of art. Perhaps many of us, as comedian Steven Wright says, believe it’s a small world, but we wouldn’t want to paint it. Through the inspired creativity of his vibrant raku, Stan Baker has.

“One World in Raku: Stan Baker” continues through May 1 at Clay Gallery, 335 S. Main St. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday; and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 734-662-7927.

John Carlos Cantú is a free-lance writer who reviews art for AnnArbor.com.